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Signal Success is a comprehensive curriculum designed and tested by education and workforce development partners to help young people develop essential skills for future success. Students receive systematic instruction in core soft skills while engaging in meaningful future planning.

The Signal Success Story

In 2012, the Commonwealth Corporation, a quasi-state agency in Massachusetts, set out to design a program to help teens develop skills to be successful at work and in their future careers. The resulting curriculum has grown from a short course to a comprehensive offering with adaptations for different program and participant needs. To date, in partnership with more than 50 organizations and schools, over 18,500 young people have used Signal Success to:

To learn if Signal Success is right for your students please email us at SignalSuccess@commcorp.org or connect via the Contact Us page

New and Noteworthy

Photo credit: Paul Hammersley, City of Malden

Malden High School demonstrated the Signal Success curriculum in action to guests Governor Charlie Baker, Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Ronald L. Walker, II and Undersecretary & Chief Operating Officer of Education Ann Reale. The three witnessed how Signal Success incorporates various learning styles and real-world scenarios to teach dependability, collaboration, initiative and communication. Malden High School served as one of the pilot sites for the Signal Success curriculum. They expanded the program from the original 25 students to 300 this year because school officials found the curriculum so beneficial to students’ success.

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The youth’s face testified to a continuing frustration. We were at a job readiness training, about halfway through the summer work program, and taking some time to reflect around how the workplace experience was going. One young person spoke to having to put up with daily ribbing and ridicule, mostly because of their youth and inexperience. They had approached their supervisor to address the dynamic to no real avail, and now they were airing their grievance to a group of peers. I had to fight my impulse to wade in immediately, but I purposely sat back and let the youth offer their advice and insights. Suggestions ranged from answering in kind to approaching the supervisor again to trying to land a new job and then give two weeks’ notice. None of them seemed to provide an immediate solution but all were offered in support and provided grist for the mill. I held my tongue because one of the goals of employability training is to develop in youth and young adults agency, the capacity to navigate workplace challenges independently.

The Signal Success curriculum bases its methodology on the best practices to foster and augment skills development. Some of the key components surrounding the development of agency in youth are: Continue reading »

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Commonwealth Corporation, created by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1997, designs and executes workforce strategies in partnership with businesses, educators, and training providers across the state. Signal Success is a new Commonwealth Corporation initiative designed to help teens and young adults bridge the gap between education and workforce.